Spellslinger Towns Devblog #1: In Di Beninging
Hello everyone! We're trying out this Devblog format to gauge how interested you guys are in finding out about our game through this format. Our first entry will talk about the basics of the game: What's the idea? How do you get started? What are the cards for? Find out in this Devblog!
The game starts off with a single building, your Town Center. Your Town Center provides a few different things: a bit of storage space, some basic food production, and a place to drop off the goods your citizens or buildings produce. New villagers will also spawn from here!
You'll quickly find out that the units in your city aren't directly controllable. Let's take [ INSERT NAME ] here for example. While we can click on a unit to see some of their properties, there is no way to directly control their behaviour. That's the case for every single unit in the game. All units will live their own live independently, and react to situations on their own.
Some examples:
So... why does everything happen automagically? We want you to focus on the big picture, on building a big city, managing diplomacy, trade, and resource production lines. We want you to think strategically about which spells you're going to be casting and when they might be the most useful. If you're always busy micro-managing every single unit, that can't happen!
Of course, to grow your city, you'll need various resources. Some resources can be gathered, while others must be crafted or refined. Let's start with gathering.
In this screen, you can configure which resources are gathered, in which proportions, by your citizens. They will automatically distribute themselves (to the best of their ability) based on the weights your decide. For example, if you see that your city is getting low on food, it might be smart to increase the amount of units that should be gathering Berries or Fish. You'll only be able to gather resources that are close to a dropoff point, such as your Town Center, so expanding your city is the way to get access to more resources!
Some resources, like planks, cannot be gathered. Instead, they must be refined from other resources, in this case Wood. We can construct a Sawmill to get that done. You can place a construction site for the Sawmill, and once all the required resources are available, a villager will start building our Sawmill. The simulation will take care of the rest: move wood to the Sawmill, produce planks, and move the produced planks back to our storage.
As you gain more resources, the inhabitants will build new houses for new members of your society, provided there is enough food available. Be sure to keep the growth under control! You don't want to end up with starving people because you can no longer supply enough food.
There's still a very important aspect of the game we haven't talked about so far, and that's the cards. Cards deserve their very own Devblog, but let's give a very quick overview of the gameplay loop concerning cards:
This is just a (very!) small part of the game we're making, and of what is still to come. More information in the next Devblog!
Also, if you're interested in following the development of Spellslinger Towns, or want to become part of our community, be sure to visit our Discord Server! Additionally, wishlisting the game would really help us out.
Over and out!
In Di Beninging
The game starts off with a single building, your Town Center. Your Town Center provides a few different things: a bit of storage space, some basic food production, and a place to drop off the goods your citizens or buildings produce. New villagers will also spawn from here!
The simulation
You'll quickly find out that the units in your city aren't directly controllable. Let's take [ INSERT NAME ] here for example. While we can click on a unit to see some of their properties, there is no way to directly control their behaviour. That's the case for every single unit in the game. All units will live their own live independently, and react to situations on their own.
Some examples:
- Units will automatically move around, based on the parameters you set (more on that later!)
- Units will automatically decide to attack or flee from enemies, depending on whether or not they are armed.
- Units will automatically build new houses if needed, and transport goods where they are required.
- Wild animals may decide to attack your town, or leave it alone.
- Settlements filled with bandits could decide to raid your city.
So... why does everything happen automagically? We want you to focus on the big picture, on building a big city, managing diplomacy, trade, and resource production lines. We want you to think strategically about which spells you're going to be casting and when they might be the most useful. If you're always busy micro-managing every single unit, that can't happen!
Resources and production
Of course, to grow your city, you'll need various resources. Some resources can be gathered, while others must be crafted or refined. Let's start with gathering.
In this screen, you can configure which resources are gathered, in which proportions, by your citizens. They will automatically distribute themselves (to the best of their ability) based on the weights your decide. For example, if you see that your city is getting low on food, it might be smart to increase the amount of units that should be gathering Berries or Fish. You'll only be able to gather resources that are close to a dropoff point, such as your Town Center, so expanding your city is the way to get access to more resources!
Some resources, like planks, cannot be gathered. Instead, they must be refined from other resources, in this case Wood. We can construct a Sawmill to get that done. You can place a construction site for the Sawmill, and once all the required resources are available, a villager will start building our Sawmill. The simulation will take care of the rest: move wood to the Sawmill, produce planks, and move the produced planks back to our storage.
Growing your city
As you gain more resources, the inhabitants will build new houses for new members of your society, provided there is enough food available. Be sure to keep the growth under control! You don't want to end up with starving people because you can no longer supply enough food.
Cards
There's still a very important aspect of the game we haven't talked about so far, and that's the cards. Cards deserve their very own Devblog, but let's give a very quick overview of the gameplay loop concerning cards:
- Start with a deck of handpicked cards.
- Draw from your deck and play the cards that ideally fit the current situation.
- As the playthrough progresses, you'll be able to add new cards to your deck in a classic deckbuilding manner
- Play crazy combinations with your cards, and try to break the simulation. Control an army of armored huskies? If you have the cards, Spellslinger Towns will let you do it.
This is just a (very!) small part of the game we're making, and of what is still to come. More information in the next Devblog!
Also, if you're interested in following the development of Spellslinger Towns, or want to become part of our community, be sure to visit our Discord Server! Additionally, wishlisting the game would really help us out.
Over and out!